Want to upgrade to larger hard drive on IMAC 21.5 mid 2011

My IMAC is HD is almost full and causing my IMAC to run very slow. I have moved iPhoto to an external drive and deleted my imovies but hasn't helped much. Is it possible replace the 1tb drive with a larger one?
Right now I feel like I am using a Windows machine instead of a Mac, everything runs so slow!

Another (and easier) solution would be to get an external drive to hold all your photos and movies and whatever else is filling up your drive and keep a good amount of empty space on your internal drive. Once you move your iPhoto library, you can delete them on your internal.
Another question: how much RAM do you have?
And, which OS version?

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What All Do I Need If I Want To Upgrade My Macbook Hard Drive?

hey guys.
i've tried reading up a little but i was hoping someone (or a few people) could give me some straight up answers.
if i want to upgrade my macbook hard drive what all do i need? just the hard drive? or are there other pieces?
also.. whats a good 250GB one? i found this one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-2-5-Western-Digital-250GB-SATA-Harddrive_W0QQitemZ220271 134397QQihZ012QQcategoryZ158853QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
is that one any good? i just know the name (Western Digital) and have heard good things about them...
any comments are welcome.
thanks!
beau

I got a 320GB sata 2.5" hard drive and installed it myself, its easy. I also got a caddy so I can use my old 120GB drive as a back up. Make sure u have everything backed up! Seagate and western digital drives are most popular. I asked similar q and got this answer"
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Steps 4-6 are optional but should be used on a drive that has never been formatted before, if the format type is not Mac OS Extended, if the partition scheme has been changed, or if a different operating system (not OS X) has been installed on the drive.
If your backup is bootable, then boot from the external drive and use SuperDuper to clone it back to the newly installed drive.
Mac Pro 2.66 Ghz; MacBook Pro C2D 2.33 Ghz; MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz Mac OS X (10.5.4) Intel iMac C2D 17 "; MacBook 2.0 Ghz.
And
Now, to install the hard drive, follow http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Core-Duo/Hard-Drive-Replacement/86/5/

Want to upgrade to 320GB hard drive

Hello. I would like to know if it is possible to install OSX onto an external hard drive first. The reason being, I want to have everything set up first, before I open up my MacBook Pro and upgrade the hard drive (oroginal 120GB)
I'm looking into a SATA Seagate 320GB, 16mb cache, 7200rpm from TigerDirect.
I would be putting this into a USB 2.5" drive case first for installation.
Also is it possible to install a 500gb?
Thanks for the tips.

Yes. First, use Disk Utility to format the new drive in the external enclosure - it needs to be GUID partition map (Partition tab) and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Note that after you format the drive, you can simply use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your internal drive onto the new drive, then test it by booting from the external drive (hold the option key at startup), then install the drive. You can also install the OS from the Install DVDs onto the external drive, then copy over your files. But, cloning is easier.
You can certainly use a 500 GB drive with the correct form factor, as well.

I want to upgrade my macmini hard drive?

Hello,
how can I know what kind of hard drive I can buy to upgrade my Macmini (late 2006) hard drive?

You'll need a 2.5" serial ATA (SATA) hard drive. I like, and use, the Western Digital Scorpio Black, which has a 5 year warranty. A good source for choosing a drive is http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007605%2060000345 9&IsNodeId=1&name=SATA%203.0Gb%2fs as they have good prices, quick shipping, and many user comments.
If you plan to change it yourself, there's a video at http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini_06-08/ and step by step instructions at ifixit.com

Problems Upgrading to Larger hard drive for A105-S4074

The 120gig HDD in my A105-S4074 is full. I am running the original OS that the machine came preinstalled with: Windows XP Media Center with SP3. I bought a 320gig drive and the APRICORN EZ-UP-UNIVERSAL 2.5" USB 2.0 Hard Drive Upgrade Kit online. The new drive is a "TOSHIBA MK3265GSX 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive".
I am not sure what the specs are for the BIOS but it's the original configuration...I have never updated/flashed the BIOS.
The Arconis EZ GIG III Software works perfectly in creating a copy of my old drive on the new bigger drive. When I swap the old for the new, the machine boots and runs exactly the same as it did with the old drive, but it won't "see" the extra 180gig of space until I add a new partition. After the partition is created, the machine STILL runs fine and I am able to move data over as normal. BUT when I REBOOT, the machine no longer loads windows.
In every attempt of configuring the 320gig drive differently (I have done a single partition as both an Extended and a Primary. In another attempt I created 2 partitions, both below 127gig in size, I have run the imaging software at least 4 times as well...) every time I reboot after the partitions are completed, the system will not load Windows. After the BIOS POSTs I get a black screen. I have tried booting to the old drive while it's in the external enclosure and connected via USB cable. Sometimes windows starts to load, but then it flashes quickly to a Blue Screen and goes back to black nothingness. The blue screen flashes too quickly for me to read the error message.
I am pretty much at the end of my ability to troubleshoot. I don't think the issue is with the new drive as it works fine until the extra space is partitioned. I don't think the issue is the Acronis Upgrade software as it does it's job of making a copy of my old drive perfectly as well.
So what I would like to know, but haven't been able to find via searches online is this: What, if any, is the HDD size limitation of Windows XP SP 3?
Thanks in advance for any help or advise you can give me!
===Steven===>>

Satellite A105-S4074
Maybe this explains it, Steven.
Frequently Asked Questions about 48-bit LBA
See the first item.
If the issue with 28-bit versus 48-bit LBA means hard drives can only be used up to a maximum capacity of 137 GB, why can't I just partition my 48-bit LBA hard drive into multiple partitions each less than 137 GB to get around the problem?
Did you upgrade the BIOS?
ACPI Flash BIOS version 6.00 for Tecra A7 (Intel) (PTA70U)
-Jerry

Will it work to un-install Snow Leopard (booting from original disks) and then reinstall, then upgrade without erasing hard drive on iMac?

I have both a bootable backup exernal hard drive and the original system disks. I have read on these support pages that you cannot get snow leopard freshly installed without erasing the whole whole drive since the original installation disks are older than the current updated version. I have also read here that it is possible to get the system newly installed (though it's wise to have a back up of the rest of your files). I need to know which can work. Is there an un-install function after booting from a different source? If I can get the system filess off the main hard drive and then install Snow Leopard from my original disks, then go through the upgrades, and end up with the rest of my files intact, that would be wonderful. I have all the adobe design premium software on the system with their updates and would like to not spend hours and hours restoring it all. And since I don't know where all the little bits and pieces of the Adobe programs get installed, perhaps it won't work anyway?
thanks,
Kahty

I have read on these support pages that you cannot get snow leopard freshly installed without erasing the whole whole drive since the original installation disks are older than the current updated version.
That is incorrect. You can install an older version of the same OS over itself. With Snow Leopard and later, unless you intentionally select to erase the drive, the OS removes and replaces all remnants of the current OS and leaves all of your third party apps, personal files and settings intact.
I have also read here that it is possible to get the system newly installed (though it's wise to have a back up of the rest of your files).
That is the correct information.
Is there an un-install function after booting from a different source? If I can get the system files off the main hard drive and then install Snow Leopard from my original disks, then go through the upgrades, and end up with the rest of my files intact, that would be wonderful.
No, there is no way to remove just the OS files from a drive. At least, not in any manner you could call easy. There are thousands of hidden files and folders related to UNIX. Many apps won't even run correctly, or at all, if they're not on the same drive you are starting up to. So trying to separate your third party apps from the drive the OS is on is not a good idea.
I have all the adobe design premium software on the system with their updates and would like to not spend hours and hours restoring it all.
If your end goal is to simply get the contents of the external drive onto a new internal drive in a bootable form, you can use Disk Utility to clone the drive, or use one of two excellent third party apps; SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner.

What is the best 2 TB hard drive to put in a Mid 2011 21.5" iMac ?

Looking to Upgrade my hard drive to 2 tb what is the best hard drive to use?

For internal, you can't go wrong with the Hitachi Travelstar. They work very well with the MacBook Pro and right now you can get 300 GB of 7200 RPM for less than 75 dollars at Newegg. You could try that and see if you really need an external given the type of music you're working with.
If you decide to get an external, I would steer away from all-purpose drives and get one designed for audio, like the Glyph drives. Along the Apogee Duet simplicity lines, they're designed for music production and they just work. Most of them come with carrying cases. Just plug the Glyph into your MacBook Pro, plug the Duet into the Glyph, and that's it.

Hard Drive Replacement iMac 27 i7 early 2011

Hello everyone, I just bought an iMac 27 early 2011 and would like to change the hard disk to a SSD but I read that you can not do!
Can you help me?

I agree with you, but I would still change the hard drive I with a non-Apple to spend less, you know you can?

Cloning iBook Hard Drive onto iMac - How?

Hello Again Mac Experts:
You guys have never failed me yet so here's another:
Situation: I want to upgrade my internal hard drive on my iBook and so want to clone the original Hard Drive, OS and files onto my iMac before doing so. I was told "Carbon Copy Cloner" was an easy, solid program to do this operation with and so I downloaded it onto my iMac.
Issue: I have my iBook connected to my iMac via Ethernet cable and can bring up it's hard drive easily via Shareware. No problem there. The problem occurs when I start the Carbon Copy Cloner software. It immediately pops up with a window that reads - "CCC cannot find any local disks located on your system besides the start up disk. Please mount another local disk and try running CCC again" - and I can get no further. I've tried fooling around with different "mounting," rebooting, and such but nothing changes.
Problem: What am I failing to understand or negotiate properly here? Do I need to do this operation via a Fire Wire cable? Am I not mounting something correctly? What gives?!
Lost at sea again. S.O.S. Thanks!
chaemo
P.S. Truthfully, I would prefer to install the OS for my iMac onto the iBook new hard drive (when I get it installed) and so did a pre-run trial but it said it couldn't install because of "bundling" incapatibility or something. Any thoughts on getting around that one!??
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9) iBook OS X 10.3.9

Shoot, on the previous, I forgot to click the "Yes, my questions has been answered" button.
Anyway, Dale thanks for your comments and suggestions on this matter for me. Your advice worked! FYI - here's what I previously posted:
chaemo
Great, I think I'm good now!
Thanks for your help with this, sorry it took so long to respond, I had to purchase a Fire Wire and try a few things before I could figure it out.
As you suspected, I did indeed need to get a Fire Wire to do the cloning (Ethernet is not the proper cable to do it with it turns out). So while I'm at my local Mac store I asked the tech guy about it and he told me the cloning was easy to do simply by using the Mac Disk Utility app and that I didn't need to bother with any outside software to do it. So I tried that but couldn't ever get it to work because it kept indicating that the disk was "too large," and again, I could get no further. So I went back to CCC, got further along this time, but again, ran into the size problem (I'm thinking here, that if my technical computing skills were a bit further refined, either one of these apps should probably work) . Finally, I tried the Superduper software, as you and Dale suggested, and that did the trick!
I now have a cloned copy of my iBook Hard Drive on my iMac. Next step is to get a new hard drive installed on my iBook and then put the clone back into it. Any suggestions on how that is accomplished? Is it just a matter of copying it onto the new hard drive or is there certian procedures with certian protocols involved?? Still riding the clueless train as you can tell!
Thanks again very much for your help with all this, once again you all come through for me! Sincerely,
chaemo

Upgrading to a larger hard drive?

Hi everyone,
I'm considering upgrading my MBP hard drive to one that has more space and want to get more info to see how much of a hassle it would or would not be. I bought my MBP last February right at the end of the month when they had that slight upgrade in HD size and speed. It has the 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and has a 200 GB hard drive.
I would like to upgrade to a 320 GB drive and was wondering if this is something Apple stores did? If not, does anything I do to the memory or hard drive automatically void the extended AppleCare plan that I have?
Also, are there official Apple-made internal hard drives or am I just looking at third party? And if so, are there certain companies that you recommend above others? I have always bought Western Digital externals.
And, if I upgrade to a larger hard drive, does that mean I should also upgrade to more RAM? Or is getting a hard drive with a higher number of rpm sufficient?
I did a search but wasn't getting many answers to these questions other than seeing that an Apple certified repair place can to do this. I actually found one near me that looks Apple certified, so I might give them a call. http://www.macprosolutions.com/
I was looking at this site: http://www.macservice.com/macbookpro.html but it's pretty pricy. Has anyone used this method to upgrade?
If you know of any FAQ/help sites or posts that you could direct me towards, that'd be awesome! This is my first ever Mac after years and years of WIndows PCs (and I'm never going back!), so I'm a but unsure how to go about doing this. Obviously, I'm just starting my research on what to get and how to go about doing this, but I'm trying to get an idea of price and how hard/easy it is. Thank you everyone!
Message was edited by: Rachel Whitfield
Message was edited by: Rachel Whitfield

You will find this link useful in regards to the question on warranty after upgrading the drive. Both answers over there are in my experience spot on.
So given that you will need to either use a third party service like TechRestore or do the upgrade yourself. (I recently did it myself and so have no experience with 3rd parties.)
To your other questions - Apple does not make their own hard drives, they use drives from other manufacturers. So you need to buy a reputable brand 2.5" SATA disk - Seagate, Western Digital, Fujitsu are the ones recommended most often.
You do not need to upgrade RAM in the computer to just upgrade the Hard Disk - those are totally different things.

New iMac. Flash drive is primary for OS and apps. I want to use my HD 2 (1 TB hard drive) for my bulky photo and music files. Can I direct iPhoto and iTunes to use the larger hard drive as the primary target when importing?

New iMac. Flash drive is primary for OS and apps. I want to use my HD 2 (1 TB hard drive) for my bulky photo and music files. Can I direct iPhoto and iTunes to use the larger hard drive as the primary target when importing?

Yes. Unfortunately, I don't know the specifics because I don't use iPhoto anymore and I completely copied over 15 years of MP3 files recently when I installed 10.7. Needless to say, I have not opened iTunes since and probably never will again - not because of iTunes but because of my stupidity. I did have some of the files backed up but I hadn't backed up in a while.......anyway....
When I imported my CD's, I had them go directly to my external firewire. I can't remember exactly how to set it, but in the preference section of iTunes you can specify an import destination to any drive that's available to your machine. I did this with iPhoto as well way back at one point when I was using Tiger, but I don't remember the specifics on that either. I can't imagine they would have discontinued support for that feature since then.
Sorry I couldn't help more.

Looking to upgrade stock 232gb hard drive

From what I can tell, I have a MacBook Pro (black keys, >2008 model) with the following:
Capacity: 232.89 GB
Model: FUJITSU MJA2250BH FFS G1
I am looking to upgrade to a larger hard drive (preferably 1tb, but ~750gb is alright too) as this one is filling up quickly.
I do a lot of photoshop/lightroom work on large files (sometimes larger than 100mb) so I'm guessing I want something fast (7200 rpm?). I have 4gb of Ram installed right now, if that makes a difference.
Can anyone reccomend a good hard drive for me? Also, how difficult (as far as tools, technical expertise, etc) would it be for me to install a new hard drive by myself?
Thanks for the help.

Hybrids include a small SSD that helps speed data transfers increasing the overall throughput of the drive about 10-20% over that of a standard equivalent drive. Go with Seagate or Hitach for drives. I'm not a big lover of WD because too many of their products are not very compatible with Macs.
Your computer is probably out of warranty, but if not then no. It's DIY in the later MBPs. But if you have to do a semi-disassembly (it's not plug and forget) then any damage you may do will not be covered under the warranty.

Where can I buy a larger hard drive for my late 2008, 15" macbook pro? From reviewing questions and answers on the support community it would appear that having Apple remove the old and install the new hard drive is recommended. But how/where?

Where can I buy a larger hard drive for my late 2008, 15" macbook pro? From reviewing questions and answers on the support community it would appear that having Apple remove the old and install the new hard drive is recommended. But how/where?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
You can install the new hard disk yourself if you want to. You just need a 2'5" SATA II hard drive, which is compatible with your MacBook Pro. You can buy one at OWC > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/ You can filter hard drives by computer, so press a "Click to view all...", choose your computer in the sidebar and it will give you the compatible hard drives.
There are different brands for the MacBook Pro. The most recommended are HGST and Seagate, which have good reputation. A 7200 rpm hard drive will give you extra performance

I have a TC for my backups but now I want to add an external hard drive

I have a TC for my backups but now I want to add an external hard drive to my TC and share what is on it within my own network. I can see the hard drive from airport Configurator but I cant acces it. What should i do?

Hard drive getting full or near full?
Here are some of my tips for deleting or archiving data off of your internal hard drive.
Do a search for and downlaod and install OmniDisk Sweeper and OnyX.
Have you emptied your iMac's Trash icon in the Dock?
If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
Other things you can do to gain space.
Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive older emails you want to save to disc, Flash drive/s or to ext. hard drive.
Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
Again, archive to disc, Flash drive or ext. hard drive and/or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
Uninstall apps that you no longer use. If the app has a dedicated uninstaller, use it to completely uninstall the app. If the app has no uninstaller, then just drag it to the OS X Trash icon and empty the Trash.
Also, if you save old downloaded .dmg application installer files, you can either archive and delete these or just delete the ones you think you'll never install, again.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it do its thing initially, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run all of the processes in the tabs. Let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be thinned out, moved, also, to the external hard drive and then either archived to disc, Flash drive or ext. hard drive and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
Good Luck!

I want to change my macbook hard drive to a bigger drive

I want to change my macbook hard drive to a bigger drive, its a duo core. I would like to know what make is best and where do i get the tools for it eg screwdriver, static protector . Where do I order my drive from.
Can I change my drive on this model. I'm in the uk. thanks for the help

These are very good instructions on How to Upgrade Your MacBook's Hard Drive.
Here is the Apple DIY hard drive replacement instructions.
The only step they left out is the need for a number 8 Torx Driver to swap a shield from the old drive to the new.
Tools can be ordered on the net or check with some friends you never know what they might have. The hardest one to find will be the Torx driver but some radio shacks carry them.
OWC carries an assotment of nice drives. Check the bottom of the page in the link below.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/MacBook/DDR2/
This will give you an idea of what you need.
Here is a place in the UK you can check.
http://www.2ndchancepc.co.uk/int-hdd.html
Message was edited by: First Magus

Want to upgrade to larger hard drive on IMAC 21.5 mid 2011

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